When lenders agree to do a short sale on real estate it means the lender is accepting less than the total amount due. Not all lenders will accept short sales or discounted payoffs, especially if it would make more financial sense to foreclose; moreover, not all sellers nor all properties qualify for short sales.

If you are in a situation where a short sale would make sense, you should speak to an attorney and an accountant to understand how a short sale will affect you legally and financially.

Except for certain conditions in the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, be aware the I.R.S. could consider debt forgiveness as income, and there is no guarantee that a lender who accepts a short sale will not legally pursue a borrower for the difference between the amount owed and the amount paid.  This amount is known as a deficiency. A lawyer can determine whether your loan qualifies for a deficiency judgement or claim.

I found a pretty comprehensive list of what to do and expect when dealing with a short sale on About.com.  Please note that every lender has different requirements.

“

• Call the Lender
  You may need to make a half dozen phone calls before you find the person responsible for handling short sales. You do not want to talk to the “real estate short sale” or “work out” department, you want the supervisor’s name, the name of the individual capable of making a decision.
• Submit Letter of Authorization
  Lenders typically do not want to disclose any of your personal information without written authorization to do so. If you are working with a real estate agent, closing agent, title company or lawyer, you will receive better cooperation if you write a letter to the lender giving the lender permission to talk with those specific interested parties about your loan. The letter should include the following:
  • Property Address
  • Loan Reference Number
  • Your Name
  • The Date
  • Your Agent’s Name & Contact Information

• Preliminary Net Sheet –

This is an estimated closing statement that shows the sales price you expect to receive and all the costs of sale, unpaid loan balances, outstanding payments due and late fees, including real estate commissions, if any. Your closing agent or lawyer should be able to prepare this for you, if you do not know how to calculate any of these fees. If the bottom line shows cash to the seller, you will probably not need a short sale.

• Hardship Letter
  This statement of facts describes how you got into this financial bind and makes a plea to the lender to accept less than full payment. Lenders are not inhumane and can understand if you lost your job, were hospitalized or a truck ran over your entire family, but lenders are not particularly empathetic to situations involving dishonesty or criminal behavior.
• Proof of Income and Assets
  It is best to be truthful and honest about your financial situation and disclose assets. Lenders will want to know if you have savings accounts, money market accounts, stocks or bonds, negotiable instruments, cash or other real estate or anything of tangible value. Lenders are not in the charity business and often require assurance that the debtor cannot pay back any of the debt that it is forgiving.
• Copies of Bank Statements
  If your bank statements reflect unaccountable deposits, large cash withdrawals or an unusual number of checks, it’s probably a good idea to explain each of those line items to the lender. In addition, the lender might want you to account for each and every deposit so it can determine whether deposits will continue.
• Comparative Market Analysis
  Sometimes markets decline and property values fall. If this is part of the reason that you cannot sell your home for enough to pay off the lender, this fact should be substantiated for the lender through a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). Your real estate agent can prepare a CMA for you, which will show prices of similar homes:
  • Active on the market
  • Pending sales
  • Solds from the past six months.
• Purchase Agreement & Listing Agreement
  When you reach an agreement to sell with a prospective purchaser, the lender will want a copy of the offer, along with a copy of your listing agreement. Be prepared for the lender to renegotiate commissions and to refuse to pay for certain items such as home protection plans or termite inspections.

Now, if everything goes well, the lender will approve your short sale. As part of the negotiation, you might ask that the lender not report adverse credit to the credit reporting agencies, but realize that the lender is under no obligation to accommodate this request. Credit report status is not always negotiable.”

This can often be a stressful process, choose a real estate agent that is willing to go the extra mile to help with this process and has experience.  The same goes for the accountant and attorney.

Having sold many short sales, I can help you with the information necessary to provide to the lender and point you in the right direction with a list of accountants and attorneys to help.  Don’t take it all on your own shoulders.  Especially when there are people here to help.

Take tour?  Call me at (980) 722 – 4971!

0.75 Acres - 3900-4700 SF - 3 Car Garage - New Construction - $474,900

Listed by Moss Realty

]]> http://michellenantz.com/2010/04/12/new-foreclosure-in-denver-nc-lakewood/feed/ 0 mnantz Juniper http://michellenantz.com/2010/04/09/denver-nc-foreclosures/ http://michellenantz.com/2010/04/09/denver-nc-foreclosures/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:05:38 +0000 Michelle Nantz http://michellenantz.com/?p=911 ]]> All buyers are actively seeking a deal these days and one of the best ways to get a deal is with a foreclosure.  I will keep you updated on new foreclosures that come on the market.  Keep checking back for updates.

If one of these properties interests you, please call me for a tour (980) 722-4971!

1.27 Acres - 1400-1800 SF - Denver, NC - $79,900

Listed by United Country Gates Real Estate & Auction Group

0.194 Acres - 1100-1400 SF - 2 Car Garage - $106,500 - Denver, NC

Listed by Realty Executives Lake Norman

Boat Slip - 0.77 Acre - 2600-3100 SF - 2 Car Garage - $299,900 - Denver, NC

0.126 Acres - 1800-2200 SF - 2 Car Garage - $179,900 - Denver, NC

Listed by Benham Real Estate Group, Inc.

0.53 Acres - 1900-2400 SF - 2 Car Garage - 1 Car Detached - $249,900 - Denver, NC

Listed by Coldwell Banker Boyd & Hassell

Boat Slip - 0.77 Acre - 2600-3100 SF - 2 Car Garage - $299,900 - Denver, NC

Listed by Moss Realty

1.5 Acres - 3200-3900 SF - 3 Car Garage - Denver, NC

Listed by Coldwell Banker United, Realtors

Renovated - Waterfront - 0.5 Acre - 2000-2400 SF - 2 Car Garage - $399,900

Listed by Realty Executives Lake Norman

0.937 Acres - Waterview - 3200-3900 SF - 3 Car Garage - $399,900

Listed by Nestlewood Realty, LLC

Waterfront - 0.57 Acres - 2800-3400 SF - 2 Car Garage - $479,900

Listed by Nord Realty

New Custom with Basement - 0.49 Acres - 3000-3600 SF - 3 Car Garage - $529,900

Listed by RAS Realty LLC dba Charlotte Home Advisers

Updated Foreclosures will be coming daily!

If one of these properties interests you, please call me for a tour (980) 722-4971!

Properties reported may be listed or sold by various participants in the MLS.
This information may be subject to errors and should be verified by the user. 

]]> http://michellenantz.com/2010/04/09/denver-nc-foreclosures/feed/ 0 mnantz ShippsLane KatherineDr Mariner SmithHarbour GolfCourse Mariner WillowFarms Blades Bordeaux Barfield Buena Vista http://michellenantz.com/2010/03/24/denver-and-sherrills-ford-north-carolina-real-estate-statistics-weekending-march-17-2010/ http://michellenantz.com/2010/03/24/denver-and-sherrills-ford-north-carolina-real-estate-statistics-weekending-march-17-2010/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:14:21 +0000 Michelle Nantz http://michellenantz.com/?p=857 ]]>

Denver NC

The median sales price for homes in ZIP code 28037 in Denver from Dec 09 to Feb 10 was $258,500 based on 34 sales. Compared to the same period one year ago, the median sales price increased 29.9%, or $59,500, and the number of sales decreased 20.9%. Average price per square foot for homes in 28037 was $131, an increase of 0.8% compared to the same period last year.

There are currently 847 resale and new homes in ZIP code 28037 on Trulia, including 1 open house, as well as 17 homes in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process. The average listing price for homes for sale in 28037 was $405,042 for the week ending Mar 17, which represents a decrease of 0.6%, or $2,641, compared to the prior week.

Sherrills Ford, NC

The median sales price for homes in Sherrills Ford NC for Dec 09 to Feb 10 was $166,112. This represents a decline of 61.5%, or $265,888, compared to the prior quarter and a decrease of 48.6% compared to the prior year. Sales prices have depreciated 12.6% over the last 5 years in Sherrills Ford.

The average listing price for Sherrills Ford homes for sale on Trulia was $567,403 for the week ending Mar 17, which represents an increase of 0.5%, or $2,638, compared to the prior week and a decline of 5.7%, or $34,031, compared to the week ending Feb 24. Average price per square foot for Sherrills Ford NC was $124, a decrease of 8.8% compared to the same period last year.

Announcing the 2010 Buyer Bonus program, a national sales event designed to extend the benefits of the tax credit program after the April 30th deadline.

The Home Buyer Tax Credit was created to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation.  But the Tax Credit expires on April 30, 2010 and home sales are expected to slow down without a similar incentive.

So the Coldwell Banker brand has designed a way to keep home buyers in the market after April 30th with the introduction of The Buyer Bonus program while extending the benefits of the government program to a much wider audience of potential homebuyers.

How the program will work:
The event will begin on May 1st and will end on July 31st. The launch is timed to coincide with the April 30th expiration of the government’s Homebuyer Tax Credit.

Participating home sellers agree to refund 3% of their final purchase price as a credit of up to $8,000 to the buyer at close. It’s open to all home buyers and there are no eligibility or qualification restrictions. There will be national marketing support including tags on TV advertising and banners on coldwellbanker.com that link to a landing page where consumers can search participating properties.

Why is Coldwell Banker doing this?
Because it’s going to take something extra to sell a home in the aftermath of the government’s Homebuyer Tax Credit The national government has done its part in helping to reinvigorate the housing market through the extension of the tax credit.  Some people may be anxious about missing the April deadline.  The Coldwell Banker Buyer Bonus Event will allow participating Coldwell Banker home sellers to “essentially” extend the credit for participating homebuyers.  And the Coldwell Banker Buyer Bonus Event has fewer restrictions.  With the increased inventory around the country, Coldwell Banker listings will stand out from the competition.

How will the program benefit the seller?

Coldwell Banker plans to generate widespread awareness and replenish a home buyer pipeline depleted by the expiration of the government’s Tax Credit program.

Participation in the Buyer Bonus Event could improve the chances that a seller’s home will sell more quickly during a particularly challenging time for the marketplace. It also gives the seller the opportunity to draw additional attention to their property by taking advantage of the national promotion of the event.

The Bluffs at Waterside Crossing - A Denver, NC Townhome Community

RISMEDIA, July 21, 2009-The U.S. housing market continues to show signs of stabilization with a drop in the number of Multiple Listing Service (MLS)-listed homes for the twelfth consecutive month. The number of single family homes and condos listed for sale according to MLS data decreased in June 2009 from May by 2.1%, bringing the total number of active listings in 28 major U.S. markets to 696,858, according to national real estate brokerage ZipRealty.

Additionally, ZipRealty tracked an increase in the median list price in the 28 markets to $270,440 in June from $270,027 in May. Despite the sequential increase the median list price still decreased 2.72 percent when compared to June 2008.

Other highlights from ZipRealty’s Housing Inventory Index, compiled from local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data, for June 2009 include:

-Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix all recorded a decline in inventory which may have contributed to some homes receiving multiple bids.
-Median list prices have flattened or increased in Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, pointing toward stabilization in those areas.
-While South Florida has substantially fewer homes for sale than last summer, housing inventory there is plentiful. For example, Miami has 27.1% more homes listed for sale compared to Los Angeles even though Miami has a significantly smaller population than Los Angeles.
-California is seeing the most dramatic inventory declines with massive year-over-year inventory reductions: Los Angeles saw a 53.9% decrease year-over-year while Bakersfield/Fresno tracked a 56.2% decrease.
-Several major metros that have been hit hardest by foreclosures had limited inventory in June 2009, which is at levels not seen or experienced in years.

“‘Affordability’ has been the buzz word in real estate this summer, and with a significant number of listed homes bank-owned, we’re seeing instances in some areas of banks dropping prices to generate more offers from buyers,” said ZipRealty President and CEO Patrick Lashinsky. “If the number of home listings continue declining and buyer interest and activity remains strong, we should see sales prices and home values increase as we head into the fall.”

Read more: http://rismedia.com/2009-07-20/signs-of-stability-housing-market-shows-12th-consecutive-monthly-decrease-in-number-of-listed-homes/#ixzz0LuNgxuI7

$1,350,000 on the Shores of Lake Norman

Bank of America has cut interest rates on jumbo mortgage loans in the hopes of expanding its share of what the bank sees as an underserved market for loans too big for purchase or guarantee by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Not everybody will qualify for the 30-year, fixed-rate loans of up to $3 million that Bank of America has been offering at reduced rates since January, with interest rates currently in the high 5 percent range.

In order to qualify, borrowers will need strong credit (a 720 FICO score or above), down payments of 20 percent or more, documented income, full appraisals, and assets sufficient to cover six months of payments, said Bank of America product management executive Vijay Lala.

But Bank of America thinks its fixed-rate jumbo loans will prove to be attractive to qualifying borrowers, because many competitors will be hard-pressed to match its rates.

Jumbo loans have become more expensive and harder to come by since September 2007, when rising delinquencies gave investors who fund most home loans through the purchases of mortgage-backed securities cold feet about “private label” securities that don’t carry the backing of Fannie and Freddie.

Unlike some lenders who must securitize and sell the loans they originate, Lala said Bank of America has plenty of room on its balance sheet to fund jumbo loans and hold them for investment, and is “putting the pedal down on our pricing and going after this market.”

Lala said Bank of America and Countrywide Financial Corp., which it acquired last year, funded $16.12 billion in jumbo loans in 2008. Although jumbo loan funding dropped to just $2.4 billion in the fourth quarter, Bank of America is already seeing “very nice volume” since introducing its more aggressive pricing.

Bank of America will only offer the loans directly to consumers — and not through independent mortgage brokers — through retail bank branches and Countrywide Home Loans (which will be re-branded Bank of America Home Loans on April 22). Lala said he expects many borrowers will be existing Bank of America customers.

The loans are aimed not only at homebuyers, but homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) jumbo loans who are looking to refinance at better rates. For both purchases and refinancings, the loan-to-value ratio can’t exceed 80 percent on loans up to $1.5 million, or 70 percent on loans up to $3 million.

While some other national lenders, such as ING Direct, offer jumbo loans, in many markets small community banks that lend against local deposits have been the main players, said Dan Green, a Cincinnati-based loan officer for Mobium Mortgage Group Inc.

Many of those lenders are able to aggressively price jumbo ARM loans but may not offer fixed-rate jumbo loans at all, Green said, because they are more sensitive than Bank America to changes in interest rates that affect lenders’ own funding costs.

Although niche lenders are offering rates on 3-year or 5-year jumbo ARM loans of around 4.5 percent that carry significantly lower monthly payments at the outset, some borrowers may prefer the certainty provided by the higher rate offered by Bank of America on its 30-year fixed-rate loans, Green said.

“It’s nice there’s an outlet, and I suspect there will be competition soon,” Green said. He said Bank of America’s underwriting standards “aren’t the loosest or the strictest — they’re right down the middle of the road.”

After the secondary market for jumbo loans seized up in 2007, lawmakers raised the loan limits for Fannie, Freddie and FHA loan guarantee programs. For most of 2008, the $417,000 conforming loan limit was allowed to stretch to 125 percent of the median home price in high-cost markets, with a ceiling of $729,750.

Assuming that the jumbo loan market would be on its way to a recovery by now, Congress mandated the limits would step back down to 115 percent of median home price on Jan. 1, with a ceiling of $625,500.

The $787 billion economic stimulus bill passed by Congress in February, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, restored the limits in place during most of 2008 for the remainder of this year.

By Matt Carter, Friday, March 20, 2009.

Inman News

A survey for Coldwell Banker last year found that 81 percent of first-time buyers said move-in conditions were very important. Only 7 percent were willing to consider fixer-uppers that they could buy cheaply.

Here, according to Coldwell Banker Associated Brokers in Southern California, are ways to lure a first-time buyer:

• New paint, decluttering, and removing odors are very important, but don’t urge too many expensive modifications.
• Offer to pay closing costs.
• Provide a home warranty.
• Make a counteroffer, even if the first offer is really low-ball.